Eric Wedge

Eric Michael Wedge (born January 27, 1968) is an American former baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) catcher and manager.

As a player, Wedge attended Northrop High School in Fort Wayne and played on the school's state champion baseball team in 1983.

Wedge played catcher and center field for Wichita State University from 1987–1989, leading the school to a 68–16 record and the College World Series championship in 1989.

He hit .380 for the Shockers that year, led the NCAA in walks and total bases and finished second in runs, RBI, and home runs.

Wedge's performance earned him first-team All-America honors,

the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year award

and he was runner-up to Ben McDonald for the Rotary Smith Award for College Baseball Player of the Year.

In 1988, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, where he was named to the all-league team.

He went on to attend Wichita State, and played on the Shockers team that won the 1989 College World Series.

From 1989–1997 he played in the minor league systems of the Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, and Philadelphia Phillies, and played in 39 major league games with the Red Sox and Rockies between 1991 and 1994.

The Boston Red Sox selected Wedge in the third round of the 1989 Major League Baseball draft.

While in the Red Sox major league system, he played for the Elmira Pioneers (1989), New Britain Red Sox (1989–1991), Winter Haven Red Sox (1991) and Pawtucket Red Sox (1991–1992, 1994–1995).

On October 5, 1991, he made his major league debut in his only appearance of the season for Boston with a pinch hit single off Chris George of the Milwaukee Brewers.

In 1992, he appeared in 27 games for Boston (20 as a designated hitter, 5 as a catcher and 2 as a pinch hitter), hitting .250.

In November 1992, the Colorado Rockies selected Wedge from the Red Sox in the 1992 Major League Baseball expansion draft.

He played for the Central Valley Rockies and Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 1993 and was a September call-up for Colorado that season, appearing in 9 games (8 as a pinch hitter and 1 as a catcher) and hitting .182 with 1 RBI.

The Rockies released Wedge at the end of spring training in 1994 and he was re-signed by the Red Sox on May 2.

He split catching duties with Scott Hatteberg for Pawtucket that season and made his final big league appearances with Boston in July, going 0-for-6 in two games as a designated hitter.

He returned to Pawtucket for the 1995 season and again split catching duties with Hatteberg.

Wedge played his final two seasons with the Toledo Mud Hens in the Detroit Tigers organization and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in the Philadelphia Phillies organization in 1996 and 1997, respectively.

Wedge managed in the Cleveland Indians minor league system from 1998–2002 before being named manager of the Indians for the 2003 season.

Wedge made his managerial debut in 1998 with the Columbus RedStixx of the South Atlantic League, leading the Cleveland single-A affiliate to an overall record of 59–81.

In 1999, he was the manager of Cleveland's Carolina League affiliate in Kinston.

His team took first place during the first half of the season with a 37–32 record and second place during the second half with a 42–26 record.

After the season, he was named the Carolina League Manager of the Year.

The Indians promoted Wedge to manager of the double-A Akron Aeros in 2000.

The Aeros finished the season 75–68, just missing the Eastern League post-season after losing a one-game playoff with Harrisburg.

In 2001, he continued his ascent through the Indians' managerial ranks, leading their triple-A affiliate, Buffalo Bisons, to a 91–51 first-place finish in the International League's North Division and a berth in the post-season where they lost to Scranton-Wilkes Barre in the semi-finals.

Wedge again earned post-season honors when he was named the International League Manager of the Year and Baseball America's Triple A Manager of the Year.

He returned at the helm of the Bisons in 2002 and again led them to the post-season, finishing 87–57 and second in the North Division.

This time, they defeated Scranton in the semi-finals but were swept by the Durham Bulls in the finals.

Wedge was honored with his third post-season award when The Sporting News named him Minor League Manager of the Year.

On October 29, 2002, Wedge was named the 39th manager of the Cleveland Indians.

Over his first three years as manager, the Indians improved steadily from fourth place in the American League Central Division with a 68–94 record in 2003, to 80–82 and third place in 2004 and to 93–69 and second place in 2005.

The 93 wins in 2005 were the eighth most in the more than hundred-year history of the franchise and the team narrowly missed qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2001 when they were eliminated on the last day of the season.

He led the Indians to a postseason berth in 2007, and won the American League Manager of the Year Award that year.

He managed the Indians through the 2009 season.

He then managed the Seattle Mariners from 2011 to 2013, and then worked as player development advisor for the Toronto Blue Jays from 2016 to 2019.

In 2011, he was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame.

Wedge returned to manage the Wichita State Shockers from 2020 to 2022.